In a Valentine’s Day shocker out of South Africa, Oscar Pistorius, whose world-class sprinting on carbon fiber legs inspired the world, was charged Thursday with shooting his girlfriend to death at his home in Pretoria. Reeva Steenkamp, 30, a model who spoke out on Twitter against the abuse of women, was shot four times, and a 9mm handgun was recovered, police said. Police were giving no credence to rumors that Pistorius may have mistaken his girlfriend for a prowler, and they said they would oppose bail when he appears in court Friday. Neighbors were quoted as saying there was screaming and yelling coming from the house before the shooting, and they said there had been domestic trouble there before. “We are talking about neighbors and people that heard things earlier in the evening and when the shooting took place,” said police brigadier Denise Beukes outside the home in the gated Silverlakes community. The track star, who competed in the 400-meter and 400-meter relay races at the 2012 Olympics, was thought to have dated Steenkamp for about a year. In one of her last Twitter posts, she indicated that she was looking forward to spending Valentine’s Day with Pistorius. “What do you have up your sleeve for your love tomorrow???” she tweeted.

A crippled cruise ship with no power, overflowing toilets, long food lines and 4,200 frazzled passengers and crew was limping toward landfall Thursday night in Mobile, Ala. — traveling at about the speed of walking. Compounding the misery for passengers on the Carnival Triumph “luxury” cruise, they will still face an hours-long bus ride when they arrive. Carnival said in a statement late Wednesday that passengers would be given the option of getting directly onto a bus to Houston or Galveston — a seven-hour trip — or taking a two-hour bus ride to New Orleans, spending the night in a hotel and flying to Houston on Friday. “I can’t imagine being on that ship this morning and then getting on a bus,” said Kirk Hill, whose 30-year-old daughter, Kalin Christine Hill, is on the cruise. Thelbert Lanier, who was waiting in Mobile for his wife, received a text from her saying: “Room smells like an outhouse. Cold water only, toilets haven’t work in 3 1/2 days. Happy Valentines Day!!! I love u & wish I was there. It’s 4:00 am. Can’t sleep…it’s cold & I’m starting to get sick.”

Contradicting reports that Christopher Dorner tied up a couple of cleaning ladies, a married couple that owns the Big Bear condo where he apparently hid out for days say they were the ones who were bound, gagged and had their vehicle stolen. Karen and Jim Reynolds told a news conference that Dorner was inside their condo in the San Bernardino Mountains around noon Tuesday when they arrived to clean it in order to rent. “He said, ‘I don’t have a problem with you, so I’m not going to hurt you,'” Jim Reynolds said. “I didn’t believe him, I thought he was going to kill us.” The couple reported that Dorner bound them with plastic ties, put wash cloths in their mouths and covered their heads with pillowcases wrapped with extension cords. They said their contact with Dorner lasted only 15 minutes, and he kept saying that he wouldn’t kill them and that he just wanted to clear his name. After he left in their purple Nissan Rogue, Karen Reynolds was able to get free and call 911. The confusion over cleaning ladies being tied up, as was widely reported, may have stemmed from her telling the 911 dispatcher that she was concerned about a couple of house cleaners working next door.

American Airlines and US Airways announced an $11 billion merger Thursday that would create the world’s largest airline, with about 6,700 daily flights and $40 billion in annual revenue. The new carrier will keep the American Airlines name and be based in Fort Worth, though US Airways CEO Doug Parker will be chief executive of the new company. The deal is expected to close by September as part of American’s emergence from Chapter 11. Pilots from both airlines have already agreed to the outlines of a labor contract, and there are plans to phase out US Airways’ computer systems and use American’s. The merger is expected to allow American to compete more successfully with other airlines that have merged in recent years, including Delta and Northwest, United and Continental, and Southwest and AirTran.

When women’s rights activists held a topless protest in a park in Asheville, N.C. last summer, lawmakers were neither aroused nor amused. Attorneys discovered that while the law bans “indecent exposure,” it doesn’t define “private parts” to include breasts. So state Rep. Rayne Brown (that’s a woman, btw), helpfully introduced a bill defining the banned body part, including “the nipple, or any portion of the areola, of the human female breast” — with an exception made for breast-feeding. When one lawmaker questioned whether this could lead to arrests for “questionable fashions,” Stevens said pasties or other nipple coverings should cover for that. Republican Rep. Tim Moore weighed in, “You know what they say — duct tape fixes everything.” The bill was passed by the state House Judiciary Committee, prompting wral.com to write the headline, “Topless bill busts out of committee.”

The Wire, a summary of top national and world news stories from the Associated Press and other wire services, moves weekdays. Contact Karl Kahler at 408-920-5023; follow him at twitter.com/karl_kahler.

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